THE JERSEY & GUERNSEY LAW REVIEW 2020 THE ROLE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL AS TITULAR HEAD OF JERSEY’S HONORARY POLICE Robert MacRae Jersey’s system of honorary policing is unique. The status of the Attorney General as titular head of the Honorary Police is one of the functions which attracts little public attention. This article examines the origin and extent of the Attorney General’s rights and duties in respect of the Honorary Police and considers whether the role should continue. Introduction 1 The Attorney General is frequently referred to as the titular head of the Honorary Police. This is a convenient but loose description of the relationship that has developed over several centuries between Her Majesty’s Attorney General and the Honorary Police in each of Jersey’s 12 parishes. The expression is not to be found in customary law or in statute. The system of policing in Jersey—a brief overview 2 It is beyond the scope of this article to describe in detail the history of the Honorary Police and the separate development of the States of Jersey Police. However, in order that a reader unfamiliar with the 13 police forces in Jersey can properly understand the Attorney General’s role in connection with the Honorary Police, it is important to sketch briefly a history of policing in Jersey. 3 Jersey has a long history of honorary service, concentrated in the parish system. The administrative structure of 12 parishes was probably established in the 12th century, if not earlier.1 Despite the small geographical area of the Island, Jersey developed a strong parish culture. The role of the parish as the primary unit of social organisation and governance of Jersey was and remains of importance. The 12 parishes have an internal structure designed to promote good 1 See Le Patourel, The Medieval Administration of the Channel Islands 1199- 1399 (OUP 1937) at 99 et seq.; and Parish of St Helier v Manning 1982 JJ 183. 196 R MACRAE ROLE OF ATTORNEY G ENERAL: JERSEY’S HONORARY POLICE stewardship with the Connétable2 at the head, and presiding over the Parish Assembly which consists of all the electors of the Parish. Ex officio, the Connétables are members of the Jersey legislature, i.e. the States Assembly. 4 Most positions in the administration of the parish (including all positions in the Honorary Police) are unpaid, and the office holders are elected by the Parish Assembly, with exception of the Centenier who, if the post is contested, is elected by the parish as a whole.3 One needs to be a parishioner to stand for election for the Honorary Police of a parish, although an officer can continue to serve if they leave the parish for another after election. 5 The existence of the parish as a separate entity independent of government is important to the understanding of the development of the Honorary Police. 6 The Honorary Police have existed since, at the very least, the 15th century.4 The authority of officers is derived from their taking an oath of office before the Royal Court, subsequent to their election by the parish. Subject to statutory intervention,5 the authority of an Honorary Police officer is restricted to their parish. 7 Although the Connétable was for many centuries the principal officer of the parish and head of the Honorary Police, Connétables were shorn of their policing functions in 2012.6 Nonetheless, they retained their customary law responsibility to supervise the Honorary Police of their parish,7 but this is a non-operational responsibility. Among other things they will agree the annual policing plan with the Chef de Police and select the Chef de Police from amongst the Centeniers.8 They also have a significant role in dealing with complaints made against a member of the Honorary Police in their parish. 2 The term “Connétable” now prevails in statute over the term “Constable” although both have been used interchangeably over the years. 3 Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002. 4 See Raynor and Miles “Evaluating the role of the Parish Hall Enquiry” (2004) 8 Jersey Law Review 17 5 Honorary Police (Jersey) Law 1974. 6 See art 2 of Connétables (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 2012, which came into force on 1 August 2014. 7 See art 3 of Connétables (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 2012. 8 The appointment of the Chef de Police is at the discretion of the Connétable – see Constable of St Helier v Gray and Att. Gen. 2004 JLR 360 197 THE JERSEY & GUERNSEY LAW REVIEW 2020 8 It is the Centeniers, especially the chief Centenier (Chef de Police) of each parish who are principally responsible for the running of the policing in each parish. Even prior to the reforms of 2012, the Centeniers had been described in the 1996 Clothier Report9 as “the most important echelon in the Honorary Police since in practice they are the active heads of the Honorary Police of each Parish”. 9 One popular theory is that the term “Centenier” derives from their original responsibility for a hundred families or houses and, correspondingly, the Vingtenier was responsible for 20 houses or families. Another theory traces the “Centenier” to the early period of the French monarchy, under which there were Centeniers (and Dizainiers) who had the right of holding a court or public assembly, where justice was administered, and where matters which related to the district were discussed.10 At any rate by the 16th century it was clear, according to Philippe Le Geyt,11 that the Connétable in each parish was— “secondé d’un Centenier qui fait le même serment . et les mêmes fonctions en l’absence du Connétable” [assisted by a Centenier who took the same oath . and carried out the same functions in the absence of the Connétable.] The Vingtenier is subordinate to the Centenier and carries out police duties deputed to them. 10 The junior rank is the Constable’s officer. As the 1996 Clothier Report said “their quality and motivation lie at the foundations of the Honorary Police. The recruitment of the right people joining for the right reasons, is vital to the survival of the institution”. 11 Constable’s officers, like Vingteniers, will be given directions by the Centenier as to their duties. 12 By contrast, paid police have a relatively recent origin. In 1853 the first Loi sur la Police Salariée was enacted. Ten paid police officers appeared on the streets of St Helier. By 1939 there were 50 paid officers. Their operations were confined to St Helier, where much of the population lived. The States of Jersey Police came into existence in 9 Report of the Independent Review Body on Police Services in Jersey (States Greffe, 1996). 10 Guizor, Essais sur l’Histoire de France, at 256 (referred to by Jurat Charles Le Quesne, A Constitutional History of Jersey, (London,1856), at 73). 11 Manuscrits sur la Constitution les Lois & les Usages de Jersey., (Jersey, 1847) Tome IV, at 166. 198 R MACRAE ROLE OF ATTORNEY G ENERAL: JERSEY’S HONORARY POLICE 1960,12 but it was only on the implementation of the Police Force (Jersey) Law 1974 that the States of Jersey Police were empowered to operate across the Island without the consent of the parish Connétables. The States of Jersey Police and the Honorary Police have the same power to arrest but the power of charging (and certain other powers to which I will return) are reserved to Centeniers. 13 The hybrid model of policing in Jersey, and in particular the Parish Hall Enquiry has been described as being “very rare, possibly unique”.13 Since 1974 the power to investigate all serious offences has been reserved to the States of Jersey Police—if a prescribed offence has been committed, an Honorary Police officer is obliged to request the assistance of the States of Jersey Police.14 14 Today, although the Honorary Police receive training in relation to their powers and duties and, for example, often carry body-worn cameras, they generally carry out a different function from the States of Jersey Police. The Honorary Police remain a community based policing body, serving with the consent of their communities and principally concerned with the welfare of their parishioners—often dealing with matters which the States of Jersey Police have neither time nor resources to attend to. The origin of the role of Attorney General as titular head of the Honorary Police 15 It is not possible to pinpoint from which date the Attorney General began to exercise his supervisory role over the Honorary Police. It may be that the supervisory role arose at the same time as the emergence of the Honorary Police. On being sworn to office, Connétables and Centeniers undertake to keep the Queen’s peace; “vous ferez garder la paix de Sa Majesté”.15 They are sworn in by the Royal Court and the Attorney General, as a Crown officer, has obligations, as a Royal prerogative power, to maintain the Queen’s peace. The Attorney General thus has authority over all criminal prosecutions in the Island and it is natural that the Attorney General should have a supervisory jurisdiction over the Honorary Police. 12 See Police Force (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 1960. 13 Raynor and Miles op. cit. at para 3 14 See agreement between the Attorney General and the States of Jersey Police referred to later in this article. 15 Code of 1771. 199 THE JERSEY & GUERNSEY LAW REVIEW 2020 16 Indeed the oath of the Office of Centeniers includes the words “vous conformant en ceci aux instructions de Monsieur le Procureur Général de la Reine”.16 17 There are various references in the First Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the Criminal Law in the Channel Islands17 in which they mention the Attorney General’s powers in relation to the police (at that stage all the police were Honorary Police).